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Hai-yaah! Pastor uses karate for Christ

A Web-only image The Rev. Rod Brayfindley is a third-degree black belt who uses karate to teach scriptural points.

August 4, 2005

A UMNS Feature
By Steve Smith*

What began as a way for the Rev. Rod Brayfindley to drop weight and lower his blood pressure has dramatically increased his ministry, and now people are flocking to his United Methodist church to strengthen their spiritual muscles. 

Wearing karate clothes in the fitness center of the Church of the Joyful Healer in McKinleyville, Calif., Brayfindley might not fit someone’s perception of a pastor. In fact, this holder of a third-degree black belt often uses karate moves during his Sunday sermons to illustrate scriptural points, such as not running away from problems but realizing that the Lord’s power is enough to face any challenge.

Brayfindley, 47, teaches the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of the ancient art of karate to more than 120 church members, New Agers, Muslims, Jews, agnostics and others from the eclectic religious community in Northern California. They go to his church to train their bodies and minds — and Brayfindley said he hopes they’ll return for even more.

“This is not Bible study or Sunday school,” he said. “On the other hand, because we’re so careful not to make it into kind of an overt evangelism program, what happens is people meet a pastor, and they learn that I am trustworthy, that I’m credible. The next thing you know, they feel like they’ve connected to a pastor.

“What they get is not a Christian education in karate but learning about the whole question of personal balance and deep, life management. Karate raises the issues of what you might call a whole-life integrity, the condition of not only your body but spiritual self, and integrating all of those into one kind of focused energy. If people learn something that applies to their spiritual life, that’s great.”

As a teenager growing up in a tough area near Fresno, Brayfindley first experienced martial arts from a teacher and gang member who taught karate from a violence perspective. Afterward, another martial-arts instructor fascinated Brayfindley by teaching karate as a source of physical joy, not violence.

Later in life, Brayfindley returned to karate to lower his blood pressure and lose weight. Seven years ago, when he moved from Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Chico, Calif., to McKinleyville to start the Church of the Joyful Healing, Brayfindley grew discouraged upon learning the community didn’t have a “dojo” or karate school. 

“I began working with the annual conference people about how I could communicate Christ in an area that has the lowest percentage of traditional Christians in the country,” Brayfindley said. “We have Wiccans, Buddhists and other religions out here. We discussed that karate emphasizes personal health in the broadest sense of the term: spiritual health, mental health, physical health and social health — many of the themes that also are taught in Christianity.”

So he started the church and his own dojo at home with his wife, two children, a neighbor and a family that responded to a newspaper ad. Soon word spread about the class, which the local newspaper named as the county’s best martial-arts program. Now, the students — 120 and rising — range in age from children to people in their 60s.

A Web-only image More than 120 people attend martial arts classes at the Church of the Joyful Healer in McKinleyville, Calif.

The Rev. Rod Brayfindley, 47, teaches the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of the ancient art of karate to more than 120 church members, New Agers, Muslims, Jews, agnostics and others from the eclectic religious community in Northern California. A UMNS Web-only image. Photo #w05-104. Accompanies UMNS story #439. 8/4/05

About 40 students started attending the 180-member church after participating in the class. At the same time, longtime church members are joining the classes to get in physical and spiritual shape, the pastor said.

Members of different religious faiths who are in the class often interact and talk about their religions, and so learn more about what they have in common and the main teachings of Christianity, Brayfindley said.

The church is committed, and the program that now has become the health and karate center is committed to giving people tools to make their life more full of grace, more free to live in the temple that God gave us,” he said. “It’s about whole health, spirit, mind — everything you’ve got.”

He insisted that karate does not teach people how to use violence or initiate violence. What he and other karate aficionados like him try to teach is peacemaking. In fact, some martial arts have roots in Buddhism, which teaches how to live healthy spiritual lives based on peace — something the Bible also offers, Brayfindley said.

“Some people associate karate with violence, but we constantly ask, ‘How can we be agents of nonviolence and peace?’” he said.

Terry Pambianco, a karate student who has a daughter in the class, said she is glad she gives up free time to attend the pastor’s dojo.

“I was talking actually with another parent whose daughter was in it,” Pambianco said. “We were talking about how out of shape we were and decided this would be great for fitness.

“I was just asking someone the other day, ‘Do you ever stop getting sore?’ But it’s a good kind of sore.”

Logan McKinnon, 14, said the karate ministry added a new dimension to his life. He now has a brown belt in karate — and is a regular churchgoer.

“Before I started coming here, I just sat on the couch and played video games,” Logan said. “I actually started to go to church after about a couple of months here. I thought ‘Hey, I like Rod, maybe I’ll try church out.’ That changed my life a lot. Now, I go to church on Sundays, and I train here. It’s really changed me around.”

Robert Graham, world director for the Christian Martial Arts Association, said more churches and pastors are using karate and its teachings in outreach initiatives. Graham, who lives in Summerville, S.C., said his association brings together Christian martial artists, schools and suppliers for fellowship and support, teaching self-defense in a Western environment.

“Martial arts is about many things, not just one — fun, health, sport, competition, fellowship and self-improvement in so many different areas it will never end,” Graham said. “Martial arts is a great tool to share Christ.”

*Smith is a freelance writer based in Dallas.

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